WWF & IKEA Partnership

Transforming Business for People and Planet

WWF and IKEA are working together to safeguard and manage precious natural resources and transform business for the benefit of people and planet. Through engagement, innovation and advocacy, the partnership is driving the development of more sustainable cotton and timber markets.

For more than a decade we have worked to improve forest management and fight illegal logging, and today we are collaborating with other companies and networks to shape progressive regulations and stimulate sector-wide innovation.

Our combined expertise and market power give us the ability to influence entire markets and inspire sustainable business practices, delivering conservation and resource stewardship that would not otherwise be possible.

Forests for Life

WWF and IKEA are committed to making responsible forest management the norm across the forest sector.

By managing and protecting forests, tackling threats such as forest degradation, supporting laws that combat illegal trade in timber, and helping people buy and use wood wisely, our aim is to ensure forests and the people that depend on them, have a healthy future.

Starting with five forest projects in 2002, we now have eight joint projects in ten different countries. These have helped improve forest management in Europe and Asia, and contributed to the certification of around 35 million hectares of responsibly managed forest.

Many challenges remain but together, WWF and IKEA are demonstrating how forest stewardship is good for business, livelihoods, and forests.

Partnership Forest Report

Better Cotton & Water

In 2005, WWF and IKEA set themselves the ambition of transforming cotton production and securing a sustainable future for the industry while improving farmers' working conditions and helping them earn a better living, reduce environmental impacts from pesiticide use, and save precious water resources.

From an initial effort involving 450 farmers in India and Pakistan - two of the world’s most important cotton-growing countries - WWF and IKEA helped to create the Better Cotton Initiative, an independent multi-stakeholder organisation whose members are committed to making Better Cotton a mainstream product.

The partnerhship provides support, training and outreach to farmers that want to produce Better Cotton. Some 43,000 farmers in India and Pakistan are involved in our joint projects, taking part in the global shift toward Better Cotton.

Building on our initial sucess, and starting with a focus on water management within cotton production in Pakistan and India - two areas with strong water risks and challenges - we are now working together to understand IKEA's water risks and what water stewardship means for the company more broadly.

Learn more about Better Cotton

Our partnership with IKEA is unique – in its ambition, its results and the manner in which both organisations have brought together values, expertise and presence on the ground for a better future. Should we be proud of our achievements? Certainly. Will we do more together to achieve our shared ambition? Absolutely.

Climate Solutions

Our projects covered different aspects of the IKEA value chain – including product development, supplier operations, transportation and recycling – as well as looking at ways to inspire a more sustainable life at home.

IKEA Sustainability

IKEA in 2014

Certified timber in IKEA range
41% of wood from more sustainable sources - on track for 100% by 2020

Better cotton in IKEA textiles
75% of cotton from more sustainable sources – on track for 100% by August 2015

Energy efficiency
Generated renewable energy equivalent to 42% of total consumption – on track for 100% by 2020

"IKEA wants to make a positive difference and that is why we are working hard to help millions of people live a more sustainable life at home, secure more renewable energy and protect raw materials. While we have made great progress, together with our suppliers, customers and expert partners like WWF, I know we can do even more."